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November 19th, 2007
Coldwell Banker Rally
Team Gains Ground at Pacific Forest Rally
The Prescribed Burn Rally Team overcame unusual road conditions,
weather and tough
competition to place 4th in the regional race for the 2007 Pacific
Forest Rally. This result
exceeded the goals the team set for itself going into the rally.
The recce portion of the event proved to be a big challenge for the
entire field, with ankle
deep snow on the Thynne/Brookmere stages. Mark and Jennifer were
able to complete
one pass of these stages for recce, but were stopped with many other
teams for a long
time while cars ahead slid on and off the road. Jennifer’s rex coped
admirably with the
snow in its new winter tires. On the way back to Merritt, Mark and
Jennifer met up with
their new service crew bringing the very recently painted yellow
car, thanks to AGAR
Paint and Autobody. Ian, Dave, Reagan and Steve did a fantastic job
prepping and
maintaining the car all weekend.
Friday evening started well, but ended in an unfortunate DNF. Mark
and Jennifer were
running with their Western rivals over the first few stages, and
were getting comfortable
with a faster pace. The car ran out of fuel on the last Princeton
stage, preventing the team
from running the popular Railyard stage in downtown Merritt. Aside
from this blunder
the car ran really fast and reliably for the rest of the rally.
Saturday the team drove consistently and improved almost every stage
time, surpassing
their usual Group 2 competition and chasing within reach of a podium
finish.
Questionable tire choices for the snowy morning stages had put some
of the top open
teams within 20 seconds of the Prescribed Burn times. Mark and
Jennifer flew through
Helmer at the end of the day, improving upon their morning time by
over two minutes,
but the 3rd place open car was also much faster with better tires.
The team finished 4th
overall, with more than 3 minutes ahead of the next entry. The team
has definitely picked
up the pace: “In every instance we beat the podium finishers on
different stages in a
bizarre mix of conditions, all of whom have far more experience on
the roads”, said
Mark Jennings-Bates, adding “the key now is to search for
consistency in that pace as
we head into the next event in Alberta”. .
The next event is the final rally of 2007 for the team, and they
will be aiming for a win.
The Regional Kananaskis Rally takes place on November 10th outside
of Calgary, AB.
The Coldwell Banker Rally Team is an Okanagan based performance
rally team
that is supported by Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty, Sun FM, Agar
Paint &
Autobody, BigO Tire in Westbank, OkanaganVisitor.ca. Provision Data,
Wildcat
Helicopters, Stacy Screen Print, The Great Canadian Oil Change,
Concept
Developments, Wishbone Industries, MotorTabs, Amsoil.
June 5th, 2007
LAST YEARS OPEN CLASS
CHAMPIONS FORCED TO FIGHT FOR POINTS AT THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN RALLY
On May 25th, the Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty Rally Team struggled
to claim points for the Western Canada Rally Championship.
Last years Open Class champions were set back on the 2nd stage with
a blown intercooler hose effectively limiting the car to
approximately 1/3 of it’s usual power. After some very temporary
repairs at the 20 minute service and thanks to Stuart Hoo and the
Subaru Support program, the team of Driver mark Jennings-Bates and
new co-driver, Jennifer Daly, both of Kelowna BC, set out to survive
to the end of the second leg.
The evening super special at Blackfoot Motorcycle Park in Calgary, a
popular stage with spectators, saw disaster strike again, this time
in the form of a broken gear shift linkage, leaving the team to the
mercy of a tow truck to remove them from a boggy section.
Day two of the rally dawned sunny and clear and after a few hours of
slightly more permanent repairs the team set off to do battle in the
Porcupine Hills area of Alberta, seeded at the very bottom of the
pack.
Good fortunes finally came the teams way in terms of a fast pace set
by Mark and Jennifer on all the stages for the rest of the day,
progressively increasing stage times to 4th fastest in the Western
Canada portion of the event.
“It was the most challenging event yet for me personally” said
Jennings-Bates, adding “it just appeared to be one thing after
another and our goal was really to just sort out the in car
relationship between Jennifer and myself on this, the first rally
with Jennifer as a co-driver. At the end of the day we had overtaken
approximately 9 vehicles on fast and technical single track forest
roads… we have a few windshield trophies to take home!”
The team ended up finishing 15th in the National event and 8th in
the regional event with 3rd place in their class, having made up a
one and a half minute deficit on the back runners at the beginning
of the day.
“It was exciting for me” said Jennifer Daly the teams new co-driver
“the pace was improving on every stage on the Saturday and I know
that our next event will see us in a much more competitive situation
challenging for the lead. We were forced to run the car with less
than half the normal boost which seriously impacts the available
power”
The team is now applying the new colours to the vehicle and
preparing for the next event in Merritt, BC on June 15th and 16th,,
the Mountain Trials Rally.
The Coldwell Banker Horizon Rally Team Rally Team is an Okanagan
based performance rally team that is supported by Coldwell Banker
Horizon Realty, Agar Paint & Autobody, BigO Tire in Westbank, Sun
FM, www.provisiondata.com, Wildcat Helicopters, Stacy Screen Print,
The Great Canadian Oil Change, Motor Tabs, Amsoil, Concept
Developments and Wishbone Industries Ltd.
April 13th, 2007
Are you sure there were
7 days in the last week?
It seems that it went by very
quickly. But that was a good thing! Thursday night
racing was on again! There were some minor changes this week,
but they soon turned out to be a little bigger than expected.
First, was the course layout. Racing started and finished on
the south side this week. It seemed to work out great from an
organizational stand point, but when the racing got going a few of
the racers seem to get lost on the course. (Great job on the
course design - it gave us some great photos.) The timing system
also had a few gremlins this week. Jim blamed it on the
distance the wire had to be laid out! mmmm. Anyway those
tech guys and gals got the problem solved quickly.
Last week's winner
(Marcel Irnie) was out with a bad alternator, but Myriam was in with
her brand new Cooper S. Ahh, I have been looking forward to
this for a long time now. She drove really well and finished
in 10th place. Matt also jumped at the opportunity to race
that lovely little car and finished in 4th place. The surprise
upset of the night went to Dutch Lingenfelter, who beat last weeks
second place finisher by 0.318 of a second. I am not sure if
this was Dutch's first time on the podium, but congratulations!
April 7th, 2007
Marcel Irnie
takes top spot in first Autocross of the year.
The smiles were out last
Thursday night as all the autocrossers finally put the winter behind
and got to race again. If the results are anything to go by,
this is going to be a very exciting and close racing season. I
was hoping for a Mini Cooper S to spice things up even more, but
that was not to be. Hopefully Myriam will be out next week.
When all was said and
done, Marcel Irnie (Mazda Miata - TSM2) took top spot over last
year's champion, Jim McLaughlan (Mazda Miata - CSP) by a mere 0.271
of a second. Like I said this season is going to be great! Dutch was
driving a new car this year and he made that little Mazda
 Sport
perform. I think he was the first to attempt to pull off a "Gert
Swart" move this year. Other notable mentions would include: Ron
Dupont for first cone (under racing conditions) of the year.
Greg Wellwood's 180 was impressive and Jim should not be forgotten
with his mass cone collection.
However, none of this would be possible without the likes of the
OBCC, Matt Scaife, Tiretrends.com and of course the McCurdy Corner
mall. So please keep supporting them. (The poutine at
the Triple O was a great way to warm up the night - Ed)
April 4th, 2007
2007 Autocross
season starts tomorrow.
Well, I don't know about
you, but I can't wait to see what happens this year. I do
expect the Miata of last year's champion, Jim McLaughlin to do very
well, but what really gets me excited it that the very talented
Myriam Stommel will be driving her new Mini Cooper S. In 2006 she
was burdened with a Pontiac Wave, but still managed to place 24th
overall. I have longed to see how these fast little cars will
do against the Miatas. Rumor has it that Matt Scaife,
who finished 6th last year will be sharing her car. I am sure
both these racers will give all of us a great show.
I have chatted to Marcel
Irnie, who after fixing some minor problems in his Miata will be
back to do battle as well. I am not sure whether he will make
all the races as he also hopes to pursue some sport bike racing as
well.
Autocross is a great way
to improve your driving skills and one of the few places to race
your car legally. Come on down to the McCurdy Corner
Mall on Thursday night to see all the action and maybe this is the
sport you have been searching for.
April 3rd, 2007
Peachland's Prescribed Burn Rally Team gets
1st in class!
 What started as a shakedown for the team in
a new vehicle ended up with better than
expected results with a 4th
place overall and 1st in class, continuing
last year’s
form.
Mark
Jennings-Bates, the team’s driver, entered
the event with a cautious optimism “We were
really feeling our way around a new car that
we knew going into the event required some
much needed work. As luck would have it,
everything continued working to the end of
the event and we were a little surprised
with the finish after approaching the event
somewhat cautiously”
Jennings-Bates has switched allegiances from
Mitsubishi to Subaru this year, with a 1993
Impreza. “It was a little uncomfortable,
sitting on the start line with no seat time
at all, entering a snow/ice/gravel event and
having no idea as to how the car would
handle on the first corner, coupled with the
fact we had a new co-driver, I was very
pleased with the result” added
Jennings-Bates.
The car is
now being worked on by the volunteer
mechanics and the sponsors to get an engine
swap before the next event and a new paint
job and decals. The new livery will be
unveiled before the Rocky Mountain Rally in
Calgary at the end of May.
This
year’s Cochrane Rally was dominated by the
rivalry between Aaron Neumann and Colin
Armstrong who traded times on the stages
right to the last stage with Aaron finally
taking the first place podium position on
the last stage.
The
Western Canada Rally Championship is a
series of events throughout BC and Alberta
that allows teams to compete in a controlled
environment on gravel roads for fastest
overall times throughout the day. The
Cochrane Rally received a record number of
entries this year with 25 teams registered
for the event.
The Sun FM
Prescribed Burn Rally Team is an Okanagan
based performance rally team that is
supported by Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty,
Agar Paint & Autobody, BigO Tire in Westbank,
Okanagan Hosting.com, Wildcat Helicopters,
Stacy Screen Print, The Great Canadian Oil
Change, Motor Tabs and Amsoil.
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